Sleeve socket construction for receiving unitary separable light assembly



R. L. BUSTAMANTE Aug. 19, 1969 I 3,462,593

SLEEVE SOCKET CONSTRUCTION FOR RECEIVING UNITARY SEPARABLE' LIGHTASSEMBLY Flled June 2 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR flifwjiasr4xr4n rfR. L. BUSTAMANTE Aug. 19, 1969 3,462,593

SLEEVE SOCKET CONSTRUCTION FOR RECEIVING UNI'I'ARY SEPARABLE LIGHTASSEMBLY Filed June 2 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 z z 4% 4. v1

mvsmozz @554??? L 5207759 14406 A g- 1969 a. BUSTAMANTE 3,462,593

SLEEVE SOCKET CONSTRUCTION FOR RECEIVING UNITARY SEPARABLE LIGHTASSEMBLY Filed June 2, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent 3,462,593 SLEEVE SOCKET CONSTRUCTION FOR RECEIV- IN G UNITARYSEPARABLE LIGHT ASSEMBLY Roberto L. Bustamante, 4a Calle Poniente N0.40, Santa Ana, El Salvador Continuation-impart of application Ser. No.404,324, Oct. 16, 1964. This application June 2, 1967, Ser. No. 643,111

Int. Cl. F211 7/00, /00

US. Cl. 240-l1.2 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sleeve sockethaving two electrical contacts and a separable light assembly having twoelectrical contacts. The separable light assembly is contained withinthe sleeve socket in such a way that electrical contact is made betweenthe respective electrical contact elements. The electrical contacts inthe sleeve socket are in the shape of interior rings which haveconducting wires leading from the rings to an electrical energy source.The electrical contacts onthe separable light assembly are in the shapeof two external conducting rings. The separable light assembly has across-sectional shape complementary to the interior of the sleeve socketand can be readily inserted into and removed from the sleeve socket. Awitch is provided for selectively actuating the separable light assemblywhen it is within the sleeve socket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This application is acontinuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 404,324, filedOct. 16, 1964, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of my applicationSer. No. 324,810, filed Nov. 19, 1963, and now Patent No. 3,226,538,issued Dec. 28, 1965, and the subject matter of both applications isincorporated herein by reference.

This invention relates to an electrical sleeve socket assembly andseparable light assembly and more specifically, to an electrical sleevesocket assembly, which receives the unitary separable light assembliesof my Patent No. 3,226,538, issued Dec. 28, 1965, and application ServNo. 404,324, filed Oct. 16, 1964, or an improved version of the unitaryseparable light assembly disclosed in the present application.

Conventionally, electrical illumination is provided through anelectrical socket assembly in which the light bulb is threaded within orin direct association with a socket that receives electricity through alead wire or extension cord which is secured directly to the socket.Consequently, the light bulb, the socket and lead wires extending fromthe source of electrical energy constitute an integral unit. In such anassembly, if it is desired to change a light bulb, in most instances,the lamp shade covering the bulb must be removed which, in somelocations, can be difficult and time consuming. When this type of socketand bulb assembly is located, where the bulb cannot be reached, that isin a place where only the rear portion of the socket is accessible, theentire socket assembly, including the lead wires, must be removed togain access to the bulb or the lead wires must be removed from thesocket prior to gaining access to the bulb. Therefore, while the socketand bulb assemblies of the prior art are suitable for most normal uses,there are situations wherein the need for a new electrical socket andbulb assembly is clearly demonstrated.

The electrical sleeve socket assembly comprises a hollow cylinderprepared from any convenient plastic or other suitable insulatingmaterial and is provided with a peripheral lip portion at one end, whichserves as a stop or limiting member, that rests on the surface of acasing adjacent an opening through which the electrical sleeve socketassembly is installed. Primary and secondary interior electrical contactelements are located on the inner surface of the hollow member. Thecontact elements are insulated from and axially spaced from one anotherwith the elements being located to coincide with the respective primaryand secondary contact rings on a unitary separable light assembly. Theprimary and secondary contact elements on the hollow member areconnected by means of conducting leads, which extend outwardly throughthe side wall of the cylinder and are connected with a source ofelectrical energy.

The unitary separable light assembly, which is received within theelectrical sleeve socket assembly, may be the same as or similar to theunitary separable light assemblies disclosed in my Patent No. 3,226,538,issued Dec. 28, 1965, and application Ser. No. 404,324, filed Oct. 16,1964, or the improved unitary separable light assembly of the presentinvention.

In the improved unitary separable light assembly, one of the contactrings of the light assemblies disclosed in Patent No. 3,226,538 orapplication Ser. No. 404,324, filed Oct. 16, 1964, is replaced by anovel contact ring having alternate conducting and nonconductingportions, which are engaged by a resilient conductor contact element,provided on a modified version of the electrical sleeve socket assembly.With this arrangement, by turning the interior unitary separable lightassembly a few degrees within the electrical sleeve socket assembly, aconducting or nonconducting portion of the contact ring is aligned withthe resilient contact and the separable light assembly can be switchedon or 01f, thus eliminating the need for a separate switch assembly,although such a switch assembly may also be provided when desired.

With the electrical sleeve socket and separable light assembly of thepresent invention, the lead wires or extension cords, which supply theelectricity for the illuminating means, are no longer an integral partof the bulb socket. This, of course, enables the unitary separable lightassembly to be removed from the electrical sleeve socket assemblywithout having to worry about disconnecting the light assembly from thelead wires. In using the assembly of the present invention, there is nolonger any need to remove a lamp shade to gain access to the light bulb.Further, such an assembly is very useful in places where you can onlyreach the rear portion of the assembly. In such places, the unitaryseparable light assembly can be quickly removed from the electricalsleeve socket assembly and a new bulb placed in the light assembly, or adifferent light assembly can be placed into the sleeve socket assembly,if desired, without having to worry about disconnecting the lead Wiresfrom the socket assembly. While it is seen that such an assembly isreadily adaptable for use a a lateral light assembly in a flashlight, itis clear that the assembly has other important uses in places where thefront of the assembly is inaccessible or where the need for rapidreplacement of the light assembly is necessitated.

Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide anelectrical sleeve socket assembly for receiving a unitary separablelight assembly such as the one disclosed in my Patent No. 3,226,538,issued Dec. 28, 1965, and application Ser. No. 404,324, filed Oct. 16,1964, or in the present application.

Another object of the present invention is to have a separable lightassembly, which is separated from the wire or extension cord, whichsupplies electricity to the assembly whereby the separable lightassembly may be removed from the electrical socket assembly both easilyand quickly without having to disconnect the lead wires.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensiveelectrical socket and unitary separable light assembly which permits alight bulb to be placed in a narrow place which is not readilyaccessible. A further object of the present invention is to enable thereplacement of a bulb in this inaccessible place in a quick andeflieient manner when the front of the assembly is inaccessible, or whenit is undesirable or impractical to remove the lamp shade from the frontassembly. A still further object of the present invention is to providean uncomplicated, inexpensive and effective means for activating anddeactivating the unitary separable light assembly.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become moreapparent from the following description taken in combination with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the electrical sleeve socket assemblyshowing a separable light assembly in phantom line within the socketassembly;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an exploded view of the electrical socket assembly of thepresent invention and a unitary separable light assembly;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view of the flashlight incorporating theelectrical sleeve socket assembly and a unitary separable lightassembly;

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view of a modified form of the electricalsleeve socket assembly shown in combination with a modified form of theunitary separable light assembly;

FIGURE 7 is an exploded view of the modified unitary separable lightassembly;

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of a first form of a modified contactring used on the unitary separable light assembly of FIGURES 6 and 7;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective of a second form of a modified contact ringused on the unitary separable light assembly of FIGURES 6 and 7; and

FIGURE 10 is a perspective of a third form of a modified contact ringused in the unitary separable light assembly of FIGURES 6 and 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As shown in FIGURES 1 through 5,the electrical sleeve socket assembly 10, of the present invention,comprises a generally hollow cylindrical-shaped sleeve 11 made ofplastic, rubber or other similar insulating materials. Of course, thehollow cylindrical sleeve is merely the preferred form of the inventionand other cross-sectional configurations may also be used when desiredor necessitated to adapt the sleeve 11 for certain uses.

In the preferred form, one end of the cylindrical sleeve 11 is providedwith an out-turned lip or flange 12, which is adapted to engage either awall of the receptacle within which the sleeve is contained, as shown inFIGURE 5, or a lip portion 14 of a unitary separable light assembly 15and the exterior surface of the wall when flange 12 is received betweenthe wall and lip portion 14. The other end of the sleeve 11 may beprovided with retaining means such as external threads 16, which arethreadedly received in a retaining portion of the receptacle, or withinthe shade and lens assembly 17 provided for the bulb of the unitarylight assembly 15. The sleeve 11 is also provided at this end with aninternal means such as threaded portion 18 for retaining the threadedportion 20 of the unitary separable light assembly 15.

Within the sleeve 11 are primary and secondary internal contact elementssuch as conducting metallic rings 22 and 24, respectively, which aremolded or otherwise suitably secured to the interior surface of sleeve11. The rings 22 and 24 are insulated from one another by a portion ofsleeve 11 and axially spaced from one another within the sleeve 11, sothat they contact the respective primary and secondary rings 26 and 28of the unitary separable light assembly, which are shown in FIGURE 4 asbeing of the type disclosed in my Patent No. 3,226,538, issued Dec. 28,1965, or application Ser. No. 404,324, filed Oct. 16, 1964. A positiveelectrical contact between the respective contact elements 22, 24 of thesleeve assembly and 26, 28 of the unitary light assembly is assured by afriction fit between the internal contact elements 22, 24 of sleeveassembly 11 and the exterior contact rings 26, 28 of the unitary lightassembly 15. This frictional or sliding fit may be accomplished byvarious methods. However, by making the sleeve 11 of the socket assemblyresilient and the outer diameter of rings 26, 28 substantially equal tothe internal diameter of rings 22, 24, a good electrical connectionbetween the rings is insured. If necessitated, rings 22, 24 can be splitto permit the rings 22, 24 to expand more easily when the rings of thelight assembly 15 are inserted within rings 22, 24.

As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, suitable electrical leads such as primaryand secondary leads 30 and 32, respectively, are provided in sleeve 11,which lead from the respective electrical contact rings 22, 24 to asuitable source of energy. These leads are insulated from one anotherand are soldered or otherwise suitably secured to rings 22, 24.

FIGURE 4 shows an exploded view of the electrical sleeve socket andunitary light assembly of FIGURES 1 through 3. As can readily be seenfrom the figure, the unitary separable light assembly 15 is of the typedisclosed in my Patent No. 3,226,538, issued Dec. 28, 1965, andapplication Ser. No. 404,324, filed Oct. 16, 1964. The sleeve 34 of theunitary separable light assembly is provided with external threads 20 atone end, which are threaded into the internal threads 18 of theelectrical sleeve socket assembly 10 and a flange or lip portion 14,which rests against flange or lip portion 12 of the electrical sleevesocket assembly or the wall of the device wherein the assembly islocated which, in this case, as shown in FIGURE 5 is a flashlight 36.The electrical sleeve socket assembly 10, in turn, is provided withexternal threads 16 at one end which are received within the threadedlens or shade portion 17 of the lateral light assembly.

Referring to FIGURE 5, an ordinary flashlight, within which theelectrical sleeve socket assembly 10 and the unitary separable lightassembly 15 are received, may comprise a tubular casing indicatedgenerally by the reference numeral 40. The casing may be made of orprovided with any suitable electrical conducting material, for example,a strip, coil or cylinder of sheet metal, which is held together by, orcovered with an exterior insulating casing, when desired or foundnecessary for protection from the effects of moisture and mechanicalshock. As shown, the flashlight is provided with two dry cell batteries42, a rear closure 44, flexible contact spring 46 and interrupter typeswitch assembly generally indicated at 48 and a headlamp portion 50having front closure 52, a socket assembly comprising button 54,insulating footing 56 and socket member 58, reflector 60, bulb 62, lens64 and an insulating ring 66 for insulating the reflector from a frontportion of closure 52. One electrode in the bottom of bulb 62 is incontact with button 54, while the other electrode of bulb 62 is incontact with socket 58, member 58 and button 54 being insulated from oneanother by insulating footing 56 in a manner well known in the art.Socket 58 may be of the screw thread or bayonet slot type, dependingupon the configuration of bulb 62.

According to this invention, flashlight casing 40 is provided with twocasing openings 41, 41' for receiving the electrical sleeve socketassembly 10 and the unitary separable light assembly 15 which is withinthe sleeve socket assembly. According to a preferred embodiment of thisinvention, electrical sleeve socket assembly 10 provides electricalconnection from contact button 54 to batteries 42 by means of lead wire68 which is directly connected between batteries 42, internal contactelement 22 and the button 54. The electrical circuit to the head lampsocket of the primary or parent flashlight assembly is, of course,completed through batteries 42, spring 46, closure 44, casing 40, switcharm 49, reflector 60, socket 58 and bulb 62.

The electrical circuit of the lateral lamp assembly also operatesthrough batteries 42 and lead wire 68 which is connected to primarycontact ring 22 of sleeve 11 by lead wire 30. The lateral lamp exteriorelectrical circuit is completed through auxiliary switch assembly 72 byconnection of batteries 42 to secondary contact ring 24 of sleeve 11through spring 46, closure 44, casing 40, switch arm 74, contact point76, contact button 78 and wire lead 32.

FIGURE 6 discloses a modified form of the electrical sleeve socketassembly generally indicated by reference character 80 and a modifiedform of the unitary separable light assembly 82. This modified versionof the socket and light assemblies eliminates the need for an auxiliaryswitch such as 72 and enables the unitary separable light assembly to beactuated merely by twisting the upper cap portion 83 of the unitaryseparable light assembly. The assemblies are shown within a receptacle84 having walls 85, 86 with openings 87, 88 within which the electricalsleeve socket assembly 80 is received. This receptacle may be aflashlight or any appropriate receptacle where an auxiliary light sourceis required.

The electrical sleeve socket assembly 80 in its modified form comprisesa hollow, cylindrical sleeve 81, which is made from a suitable resilientplastic or rubber insulating material. Of course, while this is thepreferred form, other configurations may be utilized where desired ornecessitated. The sleeve socket member has an outwardly extending flange-or lip portion 89 at one end, which is provided with a groove 90 whichextends around the periphery of flange 89. Groove 90, or other suitableretaining elements, serve as a retaining means for the unitary separablelight assembly, as will be explained hereinafter.

The other end of the sleeve socket assembly 80 is provided with anexternally threaded portion 91 which is received within the threadedshade member 92. The shade member is provided with a lip portion 93,which engages the outer surface of wall 86 at openings 88, while the lipportion 89, on the sleeve member, engages the outer surface of wall 85adjacent the opening 88 in the flashlight or receptacle, therebyretaining the electrical sleeve socket assembly 80 within the receptacle84.

The electrical sleeve socket assembly 80 is provided with primary andsecondary electrical contact elements, which are insulated from oneanother by a portion of sleeve 81 and axially spaced from one anotherwithin the sleeve 81 so as to coincide with respective primary andsecondary contact rings on the unitary separable light assembly 82.

In the preferred embodiment, the primary contact element is a ringconductor 94 located on the interior surface of sleeve 81. Ringconductor 94 is molded into or otherwise appropriately secured toresilient insulating sleeve 81 and is connected to a source ofelectrical energy (not shown) by a conducting lead wire 95, which issecured to ring 94 by soldering or other suitable means.

The secondary electrical contact element is a resilient conductor 96also located on the interior surface of sleeve 81. Resilient conductor96 is connected to a source of electrical energy (not shown) through alead wire 97 which is soldered or otherwise suitably secured toconductor 96.

The resilient conductor can be a resilient tab or similar metallicspring means. However, in the preferred form of the invention, theresilient conductor 96 comprises a metallic ball 98 biased by a spring99 which engages the ball 98 at one end and engages a metal plug 100 atthe other end. The conductor 96 is contained in a hole 101 which passesthrough sleeve 81 from a boss 102 located on the interior surface ofsleeve 81 to the outer surface of the sleeve. Opening 103 at the innersurface of boss 102 has a smaller diameter than the diameter of ball 98,which protrudes through the opening. The other end of hole 101 is closedby the metal plug 100 which is wedged or threaded into hole 101 and isconnected to lead 97.

The modified form of the unitary separable light assembly 82, as shownin FIGURES 6 and 7, is generally cylindrical in form and is providedwith a circular cap 83 at one end having an inturned flange 104. Thecylindrical sleeve 105 and cap 83 are preferably made of a resilientinsulating material and the inturned flange 104 of cap 83 is snap-fittedinto groove 90 on the electrical sleeve socket assembly 80, whereby theunitary separable light assembly is retained within the socket assembly,but is capable of being turned relative to the electrical sleeve socketassembly 80. While the above means for retaining the light assembly inthe socket is preferred, it is contemplated that other suitable meansfor retaining the light assembly 82 could also be used.

The unitary separable light assembly 82 is provided with two electricalcontact rings 106 and 120. Conducting ring 106 is provided with adiametrically extending bridge 108 which is integral with the rest ofthe ring. The bridge is received within and frictionally held by slot109 of sleeve 105 and makes electrical contact with one electrode oflight bulb 110, as shown in FIGURE 6. The outer diameter of conductingring 106 is substantially equal to the inner diameter of conducting ring94 on resilient sleeve 81 and the frictional or sliding fit between ring94, which may be split if necessitated, and ring 106 insures that oneelectrode of bulb 110 is continuously connected with the source ofelectrical energy. Of course, while ring 106 will depress ball 98, whenit is inserted within or withdrawn from sleeve 81, the ring will be ofsuch a diameter that it will be capable of sliding past boss 102.

Ring is a modified form of the electrical contact rings previously usedin the unitary separable light assemblies which is adapted to makeselective electrical contact with the resilient contact 96 on theelectrical sleeve socket assembly 80. Ring 120 is molded into orretained in sleeve 105 by other suitable means which prevents both axialas well as rotational movement of the ring relative to sleeve 105. Thering 120 is also provided with a pair of slots on the interior surface121, 122, as shown in FIGURE 8, which receive the terminal portions ofelectrical conductors 112, 113 and insure a positive electrical contactbetween the ring 120 and electrical conductors 112, 113. Conductors 112,113 are oriented with respect to bridge 108, as shown in FIGURE 7, sothat the conductors, which form an integral part of the socket element114, and the bridge 108 do not come into electrical contact. Socketelement 114 retains bulb 110 and is in electrical contact with one ofthe electrodes of bulb 110.

As shown in FIGURE 8, the conductor 120 is made entirely from a metallicconducting material and has an undulating outer surface 123 with theaxially extending raised portions 124 of the surface projectingoutwardly to such an extent that ball 98 is partially depressed, whenthey are aligned, thereby insuring electrical contact between the ringand the ball. The axially extending depressions 125 in the surface 123extend inwardly to such an extent that the ball 98 does not engage thering when aligned with a depression, thereby breaking the electricalcontact. Thus it can be seen that by rotating cap 83 of the unitaryseparable light assembly, the electrical circuit between the bulb 124and the source of electrical energy can be alternately made and broken.Detents 126 may be provided in the raised surface of the undulatingouter surface of the electrical conductor ring to prevent the unitaryseparable light assembly from accidentally turning, with respect to theelectrical sleeve socket assembly,

and breaking the contact between ring 120 and ball 98. The frictionalengagement of flange 104 in groove 90 would also retard the rotation ofassembly 82 relative to socket 80.

FIGURE 9 discloses another modified form of the electrical contact ring,130; wherein ring 130 is made of a suitable conducting material and isprovided with a series of axially extending slots 131 on the outercircumferential surface 132. The slotted portions of the conducting ringelement are filled with insulating material 133, which is adhered to theelectrical conducting ring element, whereby the exterior surface of theconducting ring is a series of alternate conducting strips 132 andnonconducting strips 133 which extend outwardly to such an extent thatthey depress the spring biased ball 98 of the electrical contactprovided in the electrical sleeve socket assembly 80. Detents 134 and135 may be provided in insulating material 133 and surface 132,respectively, to retain the light assembly 82 against accidentalrotation and internal slots 136, 137 are provided to receive theterminal portions of conductors 112, 113.

FIGURE 10 is another modified form of the electrical contact ringwherein the ring 140 is made of a suitable conducting material and isprovided with a series of holes 141 and a series of holes 142 spacedaround the circumferential outer surface. Alternate holes 141 have asmaller diameter than the ball 93 wherein the ball makes electricalcontact with the side of holes 141 when they are aligned. The otherholes 142 have larger diameters than the ball 98 and are filled withinsulating material 143. The insulating material, in turn, has holes 144therein for retaining the ball out of electrical contact with theconducting part of the ring member. As in the other embodiments, ring140 has internal slots 145, 146 for receiving the terminal portions ofconductors 112, 113.

Although, as shown in FIGURES 6 and 7, the modified ring element hasbeen substituted for the upper ring of the unitary separable lightassembly, it is contemplated that the ring could just as easily besubstituted for the lower ring element of the unitary separable lightassembly. Likewise, the resilient electrical contact and the ringcontact on the electrical sleeve socket assembly could also be reversed,if desired. Also both the upper and lower ring elements on the unitaryseparable light assembly could be of a modified form with both the upperand L lower electrical contacts on the electrical sleeve socket assemblybeing of a suitable resilient form.

While the preferred form of the invention has been shown and described,it is to be understood that all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to which fall within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A sleeve socket and separable light assembly comprising:

a sleeve socket means, said sleeve socket means comprising anonconducting sleeve provided with a first interior electricallyconducting contact ring and a second interior electrically conductingcontact ring axially spaced and insulated from said first interiorelectrically conducting contact ring, first and second electricallyconducting lead wire means for connecting said first and second interiorelectrically conducting contact rings to an external source ofelectrical energy, said first and second electrically conducting leadwire means being connected to said first and second electricallyconducting contact rings respectively;

a separable light assembly means mounted within said sleeve socket meansand having a transverse crosssectional configuration complementary tothe interior transverse cross-sectional configuration of said sleevesocket means whereby said separable light assembly means can be readilyinserted into and removed from said sleeve socket means, said separablelight assembly means having first and second axially spaced,

electrically conducting external rings thereon with an outercircumferential surface of said first electrically conducting contactring of the separable light assembly means contacting an innercircumferential surface of said first interior electrically conductingcontact ring on said sleeve socket means and with said secondelectrically conducting contact ring of said separate light assemblymeans having an outer circumferential surface contacting said secondinterior electrically conducting contact ring of said sleeve socketmeans when said separable light assembly means is contained within saidsleeve socket means.

2 A sleeve socket and separable light assembly comprising:

a sleeve socket means, said sleeve socket means comprising anonconducting sleeve provided with a first interior electricallyconducting contact means and a second interior electrically conductingcontact means axially spaced and insulated from said first interiorelectrically conducting contact means, first and second electricallyconducting lead wire means for connecting said first and second interiorelectrically conducting contact means with an external source ofelectrical energy, said first and second electrically conducting leadwire means being connected to said first and second electricallyconducting contact means respectively;

a separable light assembly means mounted within said sleeve socket meansand having a transverse crosssectional configuration complementary tothe interior transverse cross-sectional configuration of said sleevesocket means whereby said separable light assembly means can be readilyinserted into and removed from said sleeve socket means, said separablelight assembly means having first and second axially spaced,electrically conducting external contact rings thereon, said firstelectrically conducting contact ring having a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced conducting contact portions on its outercircumferential surface for making selective contact with said firstinterior electrically conducting contact means of said sleeve socketmeans and said second electrically conducting contact ring of saidseparable light assembly means contacting said second interiorelectrically conducting contact means of said sleeve socket meanswhereby rotational movement of said separable light assembly meansrelative to said sleeve socket means effects the selective contactbetween said contact portions of said first ring of said separable lightassembly means and said first interior electrically conducting contactmeans of said sleeve socket to complete or interrupt the combinedelectrical circuit of said sleeve socket means and said separable lightassembly means.

3. In the assembly of claim 2, said first interior electricallyconducting contact means of said sleeve socket being a resilientconductor and said second interior electrically conducting contact meansbeing a ring.

4. In the assembly of claim 3, said resilient conductor comprising aconducting ball element biased by and in electrical contact with aconducting spring element which is in electrical contact with said firstelectrically conducting lead wire means.

5. In the assembly of claim 2, said first electrically conductingcontact ring of said separable light assembly means having an undulatingouter circumferential surface with alternate projecting and recessedportions.

6. In the assembly of claim 2, said first electrically conductingcontact ring having a plurality of circumferentially spaced slots withinsulating material therein.

7. In the assembly of claim 2, said first electrically conductingcontact ring having a first set of holes circumferentially spaced on itsouter surface and a second set of holes with insulating material thereinand having larger diameters than said first set of holescircumferentially spaced on its outer surface with holes of said secondset of holes being located intermediate holes of said first set ofholes.

8. A sleeve socket and separable light assembly, said separable lightassembly contained within said sleeve socket and having first and secondconducting contact rings, said first conducting contact ring having aplurality of circumferentially spaced conducting contact portions on itsouter surface, said circumferentially spaced conducting contact portionsbeing separated by circumferenti'a'lly spaced slots in the outer surfaceof said first ring, said slots having insulating material retainedtherein;

said sleeve socket comprising a nonconducting sleeve provided with aninterior resilient conductor means and an interior conducting contactring axially spaced and insulated from said interior resilient conductormeans, a first conducting lead wire connected to said interior resilientconductor means and a second conducting lead wire connected to saidinterior conducting contact ring, said interior resilient conductormeans of said sleeve socket making selective contact with saidconducting contact portions of said first conducting ring of saidseparable light assembly by relative rotation of said separable lightassembly and said sleeve socket, and said interior conducting contactring of said sleeve socket making contact with said second conductingcontact ring of said separable light assembly.

9. A sleeve socket and separable light assembly, said separable lightassembly contained within said sleeve socket and having first and secondconducting contact rings, said first conducting contact ring having afirst set of holes circumferentially spaced on its outer surface and asecond set of holes having a larger diameter than said first set ofholes circumferentially spaced on its outer surface with holes of saidsecond set of holes being located intermediate holes of said first setof holes, said second set of holes having insulating material retainedtherein;

said sleeve socket comprising a noneonducting sleeve provided with aninterior resilient conductor means and an interior conducting contactring axially spaced and insulated from said interior resilient conductormeans, a first conducting lead wire connected to said interior resilientconductor means and a second conducting lead wire connected to saidinterior conducting contact ring, said interior resilient conductormeans of said sleeve socket making selective contact with said firstconducting ring of said separable light assembly about the peripheriesof said first set of holes by relative rotation of said separable lightassembly and said sleeve socket, and said interior conducting contactring of said sleeve socket making contact with said second conductingcontact ring of said separable light assembly.

5 10. A unitary separable light assembly comprising:

a nonconducting sleeve, a socket mounted within said sleeve comprising abulb retaining portion and a bridge portion, a first ring having aplurality of circumferentially spaced conducting contact portions and aplurality of circumferentially spaced slots on its outer surface, saidcircumferentially spaced slots having insulating material retainedtherein, said first ring mounted on the outer surface of said sleeve andconnected to said socket, a second ring axially spaced from said firstring, said second ring mounted on the outer surface of said sleeve andconnected to said socket.

11. The unitary separable light assembly comprising:

a. nonconducting sleeve, a socket mounted within said sleeve comprisinga bulb retaining portion and a bridge portion, a first ring having afirst set of holes circumferentially spaced on its outer surface and asecond set of holes having a larger diameter than said first set ofholes circumferentially spaced on said outer surface with holes of saidsecond set of holes being located intermediate holes of said first setof holes, said second set of holes having insulating material retainedtherein, said first ring being mounted on the outer surface of saidsleeve and connected to said socket, a second ring axially spaced fromsaid first ring, said second ring mounted on said outer surfaceof saidsleeve and connected to said socket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,491,914 12/1949 Anderson 200-XR 2,503,287 4/ 1950 Moore 200- XR 40 2,519,215 8/1950 Appleton et a1.200-157 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 1,233,493 2/1967 Germany.

5 NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner ROBERT P. GREINER, Assistant ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R.

